15 juin 2007
Little guy is growing fast
One week to go and we'll celebrate Jolan's first birthday. Time for some updates on how things are going?
The little man is now crawling on all fours, usually in search of some mischief to accomplish. In a house which is all stairs and no closed cupboard, you can imagine... We're trying to teach him that NO really means NO. He knows which are the restricted area and objects, but he still tries. And whines when we don't allow him to approach.
He's also close to walking alone on his two small legs. I know we've been saying that for the last month or two, but he's more cautious than expected, and although he started early, he does take the time to learn balance. He does get around with the help of the furniture, or anything rising higher than his butt ( 6-packs of 2 liter soda are perfect) but 5 steps alone has been his record for a month now.
I still breastfeed him. He's trying to become a champion in acrobatic suckling, but at least he knows he's not supposed to bite the nipple with his 5 teeth. As a consequence, he just started to sleep through most of the night, but he still needs either a breast or a car ride to fall asleep.
At 6 months, we started with semi-solid food. Enthousiastic good parents as we were, we had planned to feed him only home made soup. The system worked quite nicely for a while. We steamed or boiled the vegetables and meat, each separately, then froze them in the ice cube container, and stored the cubes in labeled bags in the freezer. Then for each meal, we only had to take 2 or three cubes, from the same or different flavours, 1 min in the microwave and ready to eat. But when he was 8 months old, we went on a long weekend trip to Switzerland, and took industrial babyfood with us. After we returned, we were so tired, we just went on buying his food ready made. And I have to admit, with the choice they offer, it's fun choosing his meals: he's be eating couscous, paella, pot au feu, etc...
The first month we gave him only vegetables: carrot, courgette, leek and pumpkin, and apples or pears for pudding. At 7 months, we started with dairy products and white meat and fish. At 8 we introduced potatoes, pasta, rice. Now we started to give him small bits of whatever is suitable from our plates. Boiled potato, steamed vegetables, fresh fruits, cheese, ham and especially bread.
He needs time to get used to people he doesn't know. Smiles are not given easily. First you'll get a frown, especiallly if you meet him outside while he's in his pushchair, unless you are a young and pretty lady with dark hair and narrow face, in which case you might get a smile right away. We went to listen to a concert in park nearby a few weeks ago. We met some colleagues with babies as well. Joe was all frown and not really cooperating. To demonstrate how well he could crawl, we left him a few paces away on the lawn, believing he would come back to us right away. As you can see in the picture, he just stayed there frowning on us, with the bottle he had managed to grab in my bag just as I was carrying him away.
22 mai 2007
Des fleurs à croquer
Un des avantages de vivre à la campagne, c'est qu'on peut facilement partir à la cueillette de bonnes choses. Même si on ne se connait pas trop en champignons. Et pourtant, depuis presque 3 ans que nous avons déménagé, et je n'avais pas encore profité de cet aspect de la vie de village.
Depuis quelques mois, je promène Jolan chaque jour, encompagnie de ma voisine et sa petite fille qui a 10 semaines de moins que mon bout'chou, et du coup je profite un peu plus de cette nature qui nous entoure. Bon, les pensée sauvages n'ont pas vraiment survécu à la transplantation. Mais les essais culinaires étaient bien plus réussis. Difficile de rater des asperges, et quel délice.
Derniers essais en date: beignets d'acacia et sirop de fleurs de sureau. Pour les beignets, il s'agit en fait des fleurs de robinier, appelé aussi faux-acacia. Le parfum est très très subtil une fois la fleur trempée dans la pâte et frite, un beignet, c'est toujours bon, même sans rien dedans!
Pour le sirop de fleurs de sureau (photo), j'avais perdu la recette que m'avais donné ma logeuse au Danemark. J'ai donc fait appel à ma tante qui en fait tous les ans. Après quelques modifications sur la quantité de fleurs et la couleurs du sucre: voici ma recette:
Ingrédients:
- 2 kg de sucre roux
- une bonne douzaine d'ombelles de sureau noir
- 2 l d'eau
- 20 g d'acide citrique
- 2 citrons non traités
J'ai obtenu 3,5 l de sirop, et il ne va pas faire long feu. Avec de l'eau gazeuse bien fraiche, hmmm.... On en fait des kirs aussi. Et si je me souviens bien de mon premiers essai il y a des années, on peut le diluer, laisser fermenter un peu, et le résultat n'est pas mauvais, légèrement pétillant.Prochaines récoltes: les baies de sureau pour faire de la gelée. Je pourrai me servir, personne d'autre ne les récolte. Et puis les figues, mais ça ça part vite. Et plus tard, les mûres, si on est pas en vadrouille quand elles le seront.
14 mai 2007
Visitors
It took some time, but we finally did get visitors from Finland. A nice big house in the south of France just wasn't the right incentive. I know people would have come to our wedding, but since we could not yet afford it, the big party is still to come, along with a church wedding. However, it now seems like a cute baby is enough to lure you down here.
Anna-Liisa was the first, then Tuomas and family, and a week ago, it was Tao's turn. I don't count Andrey in this, since we didn't have the house at the time he popped up in town. Anyway, maybe the word will spread that the trip is worth it? Of course this area is not as known as the Riviera, but it's a nice place anyway.
The sea water may not be as blue as in Nice, but the sand is nicer. We also have rivers with clear water to swim in or canoe on; a number of hiking trails in the mountainous region; an array of medieval villages; caves with impressing concretions (and one of them in our own village). Lots of things to see. Montpellier is a beautiful city, with a large pedestrian area in the old town, lots of shops of all kinds, restaurants for all tastes, cafés with big terrasses open all year long, and a lively night life (which I am not acquainted with anymore).
You have to know that we live about 40 km from Montpellier. It's close enough to be able to enjoy the city life from time to time, while living in a (mostly) peaceful environment. Since I stopped working, I've been embrassing this countryside life. Everyday I go for a walk along the river and fields, with Joe in the pushcar. I feed the ducks while he tries charming every old ladies that pass. I haven't had the guts to try and pick dandelion and other wilds salads on my own, although I've been shown once how to recognise them, but I have brought home feral asparagus, black locust flowers for deep frying (a local delicacy that Tao had the honour to try ;) ), and elder flowers to make syrup. I'm now waiting for the elder berries, to make jam with, as well as blackberries.
Anna-Liisa was here a couple of days, but it was raining. She did manage to go for a sightseeing tour in the village, including the caves, all by foot. And the rest of the time, she was playing mom with apparent delight. Tuomas and co did a lot with Senja's relatives in and about Montpellier. They spent half a day with us, and we took them to another river than the one crossing our village, our usual swimming spot, complete with waterfalls and old stone bridge. The weather was warm enough to dip our feet in the water. Later we went back and strolled along our river. With Tao, staying less than 24h, we had a marathon day. From the station, we walked across the main square to the old town, through the most typical small streets to my favourite restaurant where we had a nice meal in the sunshine. We took the tram back to where the car was parked, then drove to a small shopping mall. The boys went their own way, and we went looking for clothes (THAT was good, long time no shopping with girl friends!). Then home for a tour of the house, and a relaxing drink. Finally the compulsory tour of the village/duck feeding :). 
You see, whether you want to play tourist, or just relax, there is something for every taste. And I do miss you all, especially after those visits, when all the fond memories have been brought back to mind. But but I can't afford to visit you at the moment, and anyway, it's your time to travel a bit :) So see you soon!
02 mai 2007
Expo Etc...
Ceux qui ont la patience de suivre un peu ce qui se passe sur ce blog malgré mes longs silences auront remarqué l'apparition d'un album photo de pastels. Eh oui j'ai fait une expo! En toute logique, j'aurais du faire de la pub ici avant l'expo, au lieu d'attendre un mois après le décrochage, mais comme d'hab, j'ai été vite débordée.
C'est mon amie Marie-Lydie qui m'a plus ou moins forcé la main pour prendre le créneau du mois de mars à Epidaure. Ce centre d'information sur le cancer accueille chaque mois un artiste différent. Il peut s'agir bien sur de peinture, de photo, mais aussi d'autres techniques artistiques.
C'était ma première expo en solo en France et je me suis régalé. J'ai décidé d'avoir un thème, et d'exposer du nouveau. J'avais 4 mois. Le temps de retrouver l'inspiration et surtout m'organiser du temps pour le faire, j'ai du produire mes 13 oeuvres en 2 mois, c'était chaud. Mais j'y suis arrivée.
Je ne suis pas allé chercher loin pour le thème, ni pour les modèles d'ailleurs. Je recommande aux futures mamans de faire une scéance photo dans les derniers mois. Ca fait de beaux souvenirs. Et pour répondre à la question que tout le monde m'a posé: non je n'ai pas dessiné tout ça pendant ma grossesse, mais bien après.
Entre autre, mon expo a été listée par la Gazette de Montpellier et Coming'up. La Gazette avait même demandé une photo... mais le jour venu, déception, pas de photo dans l'encadré. Juste l'emplacement encore marqué, montrant qu'ils avaient quand même considéré la mettre. J'ai quand même eu une trentaine de personnes à mon vernissage dont quelques artistes que je ne connaissais pas. Et j'ai vendu 2 pastels (oui bon, un à mon papa et l'autre a son bon copain, mais c'est un début).
14 mars 2007
On the road again
2006 has been a travelless year. It was starting to weigh on my mind. I'm a restless girl. I've settled, true, bought a house and believe I'll grow old in the same one. But only because I expect to be moving around as often as possible during holidays and weekends. Except that when you're unemployed, you don't get holidays, or at least, you're not able to pay for them. That, plus the baby has kept me at home. I was going to write "us", but no, Ian still has the "conference escape route". The one thing I'm going to miss, having left science.
My lucky star seems to have decided that 2007 would see me going around a bit more. Already 10 days in the new year and we were spending a weekend in St-Etienne and Lyon, visiting my step daughter and my sis, respectively. Joe behaved quite nicely during the 4-hour trip.
Now we can say he's a good boy for even longer journeys by car. We just came back from a long weekend in Basel, where we attended my cousin's wedding. 760 km one way, 2 stops at mealtime and not too much crying in between. He slept a lot of course but also played quietly for a while.
It was an intense 5-days holiday: 2 days in the car, 1 day visiting friends in Alsace, 1 day walking around the old city, and 1 day for the wedding. For me, there was a lot of catching up. All the time I've spent abroad had kept me from spending more than a night in Basel on my several car trips across Europe. I hadn't been downtown for more than 10 years, and hadn't seen some of my relatives for as long. Kids were grown, and more importantly, exchanges were restored since most of them had learned french in the meantime.
Ian teased me that I was taking him for a trip through my childhood: my favourite fountain, by Jean Tinguely, the ferry, a "klöpfer" (sausage) for lunch. Sadly there was no time for the "zolli" (zoo). Even more sadly, my favourite toy store did not exist anymore. Imagine, a store with a slide going from the first to the ground floor. And I'll never be able to catch Joe at the bottom and see him running up "just one more time". The wedding was also taking us through more family traditions: the party was held at the Bottmingenschloss (photo), which has also seen my parents' and my aunt and uncle's weddings, my brother's Christening, and other family happenings. I have to say, there are worst places.
Being back home, I only feel like going away again. That was a too short trip. Next one will be a weekend close to Barcelona in a month. Then I'm looking forward to a week in a holiday house in Lozère with my family in July, and hopefuly another trip to Switzerland with some friends, and maybe also London to visit my parents in law. Staying close to France still, but better than nothing. And I'm still hoping for loads of visitors from further away!
31 janvier 2007
Bonne année - 2007 - happy new year !!!
et bonne santé et plein plein de bonheur!
Ouf, juste a temps. A force d'attendre de pouvoir mettre une photo récente du p'tit avec mes voeux, j'ai faiilli rater le coche. Comme notre appareil photo est toujours chez Christina, où nous avons fêté le nouvel an, et que j'oublie toujours de prendre ma clé usb quand je vais chez mes parents, je n'ai d'autre choix que de vous montrer ce petit chef-d'oeuvre administratif: la photo d'identité conforme.
Eh oui maintenant pour les papiers officiels, il faut des photos aux normes draconiennes qui nous font tous ressembker à des terroristes. Fond neutre, taille de la photo, taille de la tête par rapport au cadre, position des yeux, tout doit être conforme. Ensuite, il faut être bien de face, on doit voir les deux oreilles (non Jolan, y a rien d'intéressant sur le côté), avoir les yeux bien ouverts et dégagés (la question des cheveux dans les yeux ne se posait heureusement pas), la bouche fermée (oups), ne pas sourire (non Jolan c'est pas rigolo le bip bip de l'appareil). Finalement la gentille dame a du se faire remplacer par un gros monsieur barbu et impressionant pour arriver à ça -->
Donc dans un mois, monsieur aura sa première carte d'identité. Et pendant les 5 prochaines années il faudra pouvoir le reconnaitre d'après cette photo et sa taille 62 cm. J'étais presque déçue d'apprendre que les empreintes digitales, ce n'est qu'a partir de 11 ans.
Best wishes of good health and happiness for the new year!
Joe is having his first ID card made (thus the photo) so we can travel around Europe with him. Switzerland is first, but hopefully we'll manage a trip to London as well, to visit his Nana and Dada. I'm afraid Finland is still too far out, financially speaking.
However I did get a webcam and headset for Christmas, so you might want to look me up on skype: I'm yevushka.
I'll post this now, before the monster wakes up.
03 novembre 2006
soap, bath bombs, and mask
You probably realized already, I'm a poor blogger. And having a baby doesn't help. But believe it or not, I'm still cooking a lot, did a lot of sewing this summer and fall, and even a bit of bath thingies. It's just that I always forget to take a picture before sending the gifts away, or eating all those delights I produce.
This time however, I did remember. We were going to a friend's birthday and I made a package of of homemade soap, mask and bath bombs. My first bath bombs, wooo! It was the first time in many years that I spent the evening of October 31st far from any Halloween fun. And strangely I didn't miss it. Just too tired to thing about making a costume.
Anyway, here are my recipes. I haven't heard yet, if my friends enjoyed her present or not. And since I'm not allowed essential oils (still breastfeeding), I couldn't test the things myself.
Recipes:
Purifying and energizing mask (sorry I didn't mesure the exact quantities, just added what looked right):
- green clay
- baking soda
- cornstarch
- witch hazel water
- mineral water
- hazelnut and almond oil
- germall plus
- mint and tea tree essential oil
Bath bombs: this recipe is inspired from "les banlieusardises" with input from the now closed forum (especially Mary).
- 500 ml baking soda
- 250 ml citric acid
- 250 ml cornstarch
- a hanfull of lavender flowers
- 1 tablespoon aloes gel
- 2 tablespoon almond oil
- 1 tea spoon witch hazel water
- green and yellow color for cooking
- 2 tea spoon essential oil (lavender and lemongrass)
Mix all dry ingredients except a small glass of baking soda. Add oil and gel and mix quickly and thoroughly. In the remaining baking soda, add the color drops and essential oil. Mix together first then in the big batch. At this point I thought it looked really dry, so I added my t. sppon of witch hazel water. It may have been a mistake. I pressed my mixture in the molds (small plastic containers that were once full of decilious chocolate cream). After 2h , the bath bombs came out of the molds and looked gorgeous. Some people let them dry, others bake them. For lack of time I decided totry the former. That might have been my second mistake. The next morning, my bombs had swelled, looking definitely lopsided and feeling still a bit humid. I baked them anyway, 30 min thermostat 1. A small piece in a glass of water did produce some fizzing, so I decided they were good to go in the present box.
Soap: I won't describe the whole process, or I will never finish this entry.
- Both soaps are made with : Palm, oil, coconut, grapeseed, canola oil. Superfatted with grapeseed oil
- Light soap additives: Mandarine and lemon essential oil, lemon peel, paprika
- Orange soap: Red palm oil, beeswax, lavender, geranium and lemongrass essential oils
18 septembre 2006
911
J'étais sencée partir pour New York le 18 septembre 2001. Une semaine plus tôt, je reçois un coup de fil de ma frangine me prédisant que mon voyage allait être annulé. Les tours étaient déjà en train de bruler, mais la nouvelle n'avait pas encore atteint mon labo, en Finlande. Nous avons suivi le reste sur le site de la CNN, presque en direct. Evidemment la conférence a été reportée.
Dimanche dernier, un reportage est passé à la télé. Deux frères, des Français, faisaient un reportage sur un pompier débutant. Ils se sont retrouvés, avec leurs caméras, au coeur de la catastrophe. On y voit le sentiment d'impuissance de ces hommes habitués à sauver des vies. Prêts à gravir ces deux montagnes pour faire leur boulot, sachant qu'il est déjà trop tard pour beaucoup. Puis l'incrédulité lorsque la première tour s'effondre, et la peur, pour soi, et pour les autres. Filmé avec beaucoup de pudeur, sans tomber dans le sensationnel, le documentaire était très émouvant.
J'y suis allée deux mois plus tard finalement. Je ne suis pas allée à ground zero, mais du ferry on pouvait voir la fumé qui s'en échappait encore. La ville essayait timidement de sortir de son deuil. Moins de monde, moins de touristes probablement. La statue de la Liberté et l'Empire State building fermés aux visites. Moi, je suis montée en haut du World Trade Center en 99.
22 août 2006
motherhood
You're probably thinking that being a new mum is what kept me away from the keyboard so long. Of course you're right. But baby care is not what eats all our time. Actually, surfing and writing at the computer is one thing you can do with a small one in your arms. So its not the baby, it's the social life that springs around it. Parenthood does'nt mean staying at home alone with a baby. We've had friends and family for coffee, "apero" or dinner, or been out, almost every other day since Jolan was born. I don't complain. I've even had my childhood friend from Quebec staying 2 weeks, which was great. But it means that the "free" days are best used for all kind of chores such as paper work, getting the cards sent after all, and just lying on the sofa doing nothing (else than feeding the baby and changing diapers).
Now, since my friend has gone back to Montreal, and Ian to work, the days have become more quiet. I've taken up sewing again, and reinstalled windows on the computer, which was driving me crazy with unwanted popups, problems at startup and other defects that my antivirus and antispyware couldn't clean. I'm thinking of making some new batches of soap, as soon as I get the empty Pringles boxes promised by a friend. Then I should start again on my web design project.
What about motherhood then? Well, it's great! There's no way to describe the feeling, when you first realise you have a baby, your own baby, your love. Yes, this cute little thing is your son. And it doesn't matter anymore that you're tired, have less time of your own and less freedom, since you have your baby. It doesn't even matter that I was interrupted 3-4 times since starting this entry. Right now, he's in my arms doing funny faces. Oh so cute! I cannot understand people who say baby are boring the first few months.
Jolan is an easy boy. Not too much crying. And last night he slept 5 hours. The only problem was that he refused to take from the breast, so I've had to pump my milk and give it from the bottle. That's because he was to small at birth, and didn't have the proper reflex. Even the bottle was a hard job the first week, and once he got used to the bottle I had little hope of seeing him change for the more direct but less easy way, although I still put him on the breast each time. Now it seems I was right to try. Although he still takes a little from the bottle, he suddenly decided that he could get his meal directly at the source.
Ohhh he's smiling in his sleep :) well, I'll try to put him in bed and take my shower.
09 juillet 2006
Lune de miel - honeymoon
In english at the bottom.
Le 30 juin nous sommes partis en "weekend de noce". Juste histoire d'avoir 2 jours rien qu'à nous avant qu'il ne soit trop tard. Pour trouver notre destination, j'ai cherché parmis les logis de france une "demeure de caractère" avec piscine et pas trop loin, au cas où. Je suis tombée sur ce logis du coté d'Anduze: le Pradinas. Juste ce qu'il nous fallait.
Vendredi soir nous partons donc pour notre petite expédition. Les patrons sont sympas, la chambre est toute mignonne, et l'eau de la piscine un délice. Le repas aussi d'ailleur. Comme la journée a été longue, aquagym pour ma préparation a l'accouchement, qui se trouve a 1h de route de chez nous, shopping a mondial tissu, puis de nouveau sur la route pour le logis, je m'effondre vite sur le lit et m'endors.
6h du mat'. C'est le déluge entre mes jambes. Et dire que certaines femmes ne se rendent pas compte qu'elle ont perdu les eaux. On appelle la clinique, et la sage femme nous dit qu'on a le temps de faire le trajet (1h30). On remballe tout pèle mèle et on file a l'anglaise, la réception étant fermée. Petit passage à la maison (c'est sur le chemin) pour récupérer mon dossier de grossesse. J'avais prévu de faire ma valise la semaine suivante. Tant pis.
Finalement, du temps on en avait. Plus de 24 h. Le papa a pu aller chercher quelques affaires (heureusement j'avais déja fait une lessive de vêtements de bébé).
Et le dimanche a 10h32, petit Jolan est né. 46 cm et 2kg400. Pas si mal pour 5 semaine d'avance. Le plus beau bébé du monde, bien entendu!
Jolan was born on July 2nd, right in the middle of our "honeymoon" weekend. Luckily we hadn't planned a long trip. Just a cute hotel in an old stone house, with swimming pool and good food, 50 km from our place. We did get one dip in the pool, one nice meal and a few hours sleep, before chaos. Then at 6 am my water broke and sent us on our way to the hospital.
Of course, five weeks ahead of time, I hadn't packed, and was only in the process of dressing lists of what to take. Luckily I had done a first round of laundry with baby cloths. And since it took more than 24 h for the labor to really start, the daddy and my family managed to get me most of what was needed.
The little one was 46 cm and 2kg400 at birth. Everything ok except he couldn't take the breast properly, and had a tendency to sleep when given the bottle. He has made a lot of progress since. Including voice progress (I just loved his first mewling sounds, but now his screms have taken more amplitude).
We're a tired but happy family.
